Selling a house without solicitor

S

SarahMc

Registered User
Messages
778
Is this possible? Its a straight forward sale, have deeds, no outstanding mortgage. I have managed probate without the help of a solicitor, and wonder is this as straight forward.
 
Interesting question though.

Hmm. I wouldn't buy without a solicitor, but sell? Why not just hand over the deeds and take the cash?

What are we missing here?
 
extopia said:
Interesting question though.

Hmm. I wouldn't buy without a solicitor, but sell? Why not just hand over the deeds and take the cash?

What are we missing here?
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The whole searching to make sure there are no charges on a property. You don't want to buy a house with a judgment morgtage on it.

Also the change of overship/stamp duty would need doing.
 
It's the buyer who has to worry about charges on a property and the security of the title, not the seller!

Stamp duty? Buyer's problem also.

But you're right - you'd probably need a solicitor to advise you about what you were signing, as there's no way you could just take the bank draft without having to sign something... And the buyer's bank and solicitor would probably refuse to deal with a mere non-legal individual.
 
In theory it's possible as far as I know but in practice apart from the caveats already mentioned the scope for errors which could lead to long term problems and costs in excess of the money initially saved on coinveyancing fees would be extremely high. Better to get the job done properly by a reputable and competitive solicitor and rest easy thereafter.
 
bond-007 said:
Their loss then.
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Hardly. Plenty of other properies out there.

Deirdra said:
My experience is the same as CCOVICH. The banks just won't do it.
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My view/opinion isn't based on experience, it's actually based on what I have read in the past on AAM.
 
"Why not just hand over the deeds and take the cash?"

Its not that simple and the problem is that the capacity for things to go wrong is enormous. Solicitors don't just change the names and addresses on deeds.

I'd be really ticked off if, as a solicitor, I was dealing with a non conveyancer in trying to acquire title to a property for a purchaser. Its not the function of the Vendor's solicitor to guarantee my client good title but it is their function to comprehend and stand over the General and Special Conditions of Sale ( all 51 of them) in the standard Law Society Contract. Its the Purchasers Solicitors function to acquire good title ( such as would enable them to be immediately sell on) but they are heavily reliant on the Vendor/ Solicitor to disclose things in the Contract and in Replies to Requisitions) that may not be apparent to the untrained eye.

I've said it before - what the Vendor might hope to save in fees the Purchaser will end up paying to his/her own solicitor for doubling the work involved.

I've also seen situations where e.g. someone wants to sell but does not want to pay a solicitor and I have a client who wants to buy. I really cannot act for both and I have had purchasers pay the vendor's solicitor's fees to complete a transaction.

mf
 
mf1 said:
I really cannot act for both and I have had purchasers pay the vendor's solicitor's fees to complete a transaction.
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Interesting - now there's a new bargaining angle for some people!
 
I was saying that more in the context of "nuisance" cases!!!

Say fixing a boundary/ access problem where the only ( apparent ) benefit is to the Purchaser or enlarging a site where the value of the extra piece is minuscule but the extra benefit to the Purchaser is incalculable.

Don't all get excited now.

mf
 
MF you are the only person talking sense on this board and obviously one of the only people who undertands the work involved.

The abuse solicitors get over fees for conveyancing is ridiculous. Solicitors' charges for property work are now so low that there isn't much of a profit margin and to compensate for this a number of solicitors aren't reading the title correctly (if at all) or drafting the deeds, memorials etc correctly.

The same people who moan about solicitors fees are quite happy to pay a massive fee to estate agents who, in this market, barely need to advertise a property to sell it. Sorry for the rant but it bothers me.
 
Please keep the thread on topic and keep more general rants/observations to the Letting Off Steam forum (where applicable - e.g. users with 50+ posts and 1+ month registration).
 
Of course you can sell without solicitors but you will not get a solicitor to admit to that! When the vendor solicitor asks for the name of the solicitor that will be acting for you - say that you are doing the conveyancing yourself.

You will then get a lot of pre contract enquiries from the vendor solicitor answer the ones you can and if some of the question relates to the vendor solicitor during research themselves say 'rely on your own searches'. Actually most of the pre contract questions will be 'rely on your own searches!

The only draw back will be when you have to prepare a contract for exchange then you could ask a solicitor their advice on it and you could use the same solicitor account to transferring the completions monies or set a special bank account in the names of the yourself and the vendor with the understanding that the money will not be touched until the completion is confirmed.

Nothing to it – go for it and good luck.
 
Bit of a contradiction there, eh?
 
"Nothing to it – go for it and good luck."

Terrific - of course all we do is change the names and addresses.
Teapot is way off the mark.

and as for:

"you could use the same solicitor account to transferring the completions monies or set a special bank account in the names of the yourself and the vendor with the understanding that the money will not be touched until the completion is confirmed"

This is total tripe. No solicitor is going to have money coming through their account on this basis and any one who handed over large sums of money to a lay person handling their own sale without having their own solicitor jump through hoops, needs certifying.

mf
 
Teapot,

Where on earth did you conjure up that bit of nonsense from?

'Cos if you believe that, I've a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like you to buy.
 
You need not see a solicitor at all if you provide a contract and make the necessary amendments and deletions accordingly. There is nothing to say that you cannot exchange and complete the same day therefore there is no need to make any special arrangement for the transferring the deposit monies. It is done in the UK why not Ireland? Make your self familiar with do it yourself conveyancing literature that is available it would be worth it in the end!

I expect that the other side solicitor would be very reluctant to deal with the seller doing his/her own conveyancing but if he/she would be acting for the buyer and would not have a say in the matter. Think of the thousands that you would be saving.



 
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